Weekly News – Term 4 | Week 4

The Year 13s hosted a very well put together final assembly on Tuesday. They reflected on their years at St Hilda’s and there was singing, laughter and of course, tears. The school has been quiet over the past few days with the seniors on study leave. We wish them luck as the NCEA examinations begin.
Year 10 students have been participating in a cross-curricular STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths) rich task project, with the support of ADInstruments. The goals of the project are to learn about the career opportunities available in STEM fields, and the range of skills and aptitudes that contribute to the running of a successful organisation, while also learning how to combine skills across a range of subjects to develop an outcome.

The students are using the equipment and learning software from ADInstruments to design experiments to prove or disprove typical “sporting myths”. Each team will design their experiment, gather and analyse their data, and then present their data by creating an infographic of their results and a website.

Year 10 students depart for Camp Tautuku on Monday. We wish them all the best for good weather and safe travels.

Curiosity WeekIn Week 5, 13th – 17th November, the Year 7 – 9 students will be exploring their curiosity as part of a curiosity project. They will consider what things they have always wanted to know about, what makes them curious and what they can do about that curiosity.

St Hilda’s ChronicleOrders for the St Hilda’s Chronicle are being taken now! This year’s school magazine contains over 150 pages of photos and memories from 2017 at a cost of $40. The Chronicle will be ready for your daughter to collect at the conclusion of Prize Giving on Thursday 7 December. Alternatively, copies can be collected from the school office or posted home.
Could you please complete the online form here or pick up an order form from the school office to order your daughter(s) copy of the Chronicle. Multiple copies may be ordered and the Chronicle will be charged to the school account. Please note, there will be no door sales of the magazine on Prize Giving night. We are now only printing the number of magazines that are pre-ordered to avoid unnecessary wastage.
Orders can be made until 3pm, Friday 17 November. Alternatively, copies can be collected from the school office or posted home. Please indicate this on your order form.

The St Hilda’s Chronicle Committee

From the International Department

We are delighted to announce that from 12 – 24 March2018 our Japanese sister school, Ichikawa Gakuen High School, will be visiting us again.

We are now looking for St Hilda’s families to host our guests. Please get in touch as soon as possible if you have got a spare room and are interested in this ​short term hosting opportunity. Homestay families will be supported and will receive homestay fees to cover for any costs. Hosting an international student can be an enriching experience for the entire family!​ ​

From the PFA

A reminder that we are still accepting items for the 2018 school fair. We are looking for items such a clothing, books, toys, puzzles and household objects and these can be left at the caretakers garage – this is at the end of the drive way by the school tennis courts. Saturday 17 March will roll around very quickly!

Chapel Matters

As the senior students prepare for exams, they may well be feeling stressed and anxious. Doing mindfulness exercises, meditation, and prayer will all help with this as it allows the person to calm themselves, let go of what they cannot control, and hand over their concerns to God. Simple prayers such as, “God of Peace, Hear My Prayer” (or, “God of Love, Still My Heart”), are good to say while breathing slowly in and out. This kind of contemplative prayer has been used for centuries but we have tended to neglect this form of prayer in our modern world; we have often focused on prayers where we do a lot of talking, especially ones where we bring long lists of requests before God. But a little prayer like this, accompanied by stillness and quiet, and repeated as we breathe in and out, can help centre ourselves and restore peace to our minds and hearts.

On a lighter note, the following prayer is based on Psalm 23 and although it is kind of funny, it actually does have some good truth in it:

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not flunk.
He keepeth me from lying down when I should be studying.
He leadeth me beside the water cooler for a study break.
He restores my faith in study guides.
He leads me to better study habits,
For my grades’ sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of borderline grades,
I will not have a nervous breakdown,
For Thou art with me.
My prayers and my friends, they comfort me.
Thou givest me the answer in moments of blankness.
Thou anointest my head with understanding.
My test paper runneth over with questions I recognise.
Surely passing grades and flying colours shall follow me,
All the days of my examinations,
And I shall not have to dwell in this exam hall forever.
Amen.

Tolcarne News

A fun week for the Year 13s as the rituals of leaving school all begin. On Monday night they cooked themselves a BBQ over at the apartments, making salads and Eton Mess for dessert. All the girls enjoyed a hotcake breakfast on Tuesday, served by the Year 13s as a farewell gesture. Study leave has begun and our senior girls are working hard. We are offering tutorials to the girls during the day as our skilled staff are also awesome tutors, especially in English, Art History and Science.

Year 10s have experienced their first set of exams at St Hilda’s and for the remainder of this week enjoyed their hands on and experimental Rich Task.

This weekend the girls are participating in a Bikram Yoga class with the support of Bex, our weekend activities co-ordinator, Grania, one of our house supervisors who loves Bikram yoga, and also Shannon, our in-house yoga teacher, who will also be at the class with the girls.

Our Christmas tree in the foyer looks amazing – thanks to Nat and her creative talents……..we are starting to feel that Christmas is looming (43 days to go!).

Student Achievement

Meg Timu has been awarded a University of Otago Performance Entrance Scholarship.

Georgia Mitchell and Kate Higham received Re Awarded Sport Blues for Football on Tuesday. Georgia is a member of the St Hilda’s First XI Football Team, was a member of the 2017 Under 17 Otago team and is also a member of the 2017 Green Island Premier Football Team. Kate is a member of the St Hilda’s First XI Football Team and was a member of the 2017 Under 17 Otago team.